Specifying Subscriber Account Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x

On an individual subscriber Account Settings page, you can use the account settings to check the account status for an individual subscriber (whether an account is locked or unlocked). Cisco Unity locks a subscriber account automatically when the Cisco Unity Account Status check box is checked on the Subscriber Template Account page for the template that was used to create the subscriber account.

Cisco Unity also locks a subscriber account when the subscriber reaches the limit of failed logon attempts specified in the account policy:

•When subscribers use the phone to access Cisco Unity, the number of failed logon attempts allowed is set on the Subscribers > Account Policy > Unity Account Lockout page.

•When subscribers use the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (PCA) to access Cisco Unity, the number of failed logon attempts allowed is set on the System > Authentication page.

•When subscribers use the Cisco Unity Administrator or the Status Monitor to access Cisco Unity, and the applications use the Integrated Windows authentication method (which is the default), the account policy that is specified for each Active Directory account determines the number of failed logon attempts that are allowed before the user account cannot be used to access Windows (and therefore, the Cisco Unity Administrator or the Status Monitor).

However, when subscribers use the Cisco Unity Administrator or the Status Monitor to access Cisco Unity, and the applications use the Anonymous authentication method, the number of failed logon attempts allowed is set on the System > Authentication page.

You can use the account settings to lock individual subscriber accounts to prevent subscribers from using the phone or a Cisco Unity web application to access Cisco Unity, or to specify billing IDs specific to your organization.

On the Subscriber Template Account Settings page, you can lock or unlock subscriber accounts, and enter a billing ID.

Note that you cannot use the account settings to change the logon, password, or lockout policy for individual subscriber accounts. For information on setting up the account policy that applies when subscribers access to Cisco Unity by phone, see the "Managing Account Policy Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x" chapter.

Specifying Subscriber Passwords Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x

Phone password settings on individual subscriber accounts define whether subscribers are prompted to enter a password when they access their Cisco Unity mailboxes by phone, whether they can set their own phone passwords, and when they must change their passwords. In addition, when a subscriber forgets a password, you can use the phone password settings to reset the password. When more than one subscriber has access to the same account, you can set the password and not allow subscribers to change it.

Note During installation, the installer was prompted to change the default phone and Active Directory passwords for the {Default Subscriber} template from 12345 and 12345678 respectively to passwords that are more secure. If your system was upgraded from an earlier version of Cisco Unity, the passwords may remain unchanged. As a security precaution, confirm that the default passwords have been replaced with passwords that are eight or more characters long and non-trivial.

Specifying Subscriber Call Transfer Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x

Call transfer settings specify how Cisco Unity handles calls transferred from the automated attendant or a directory handler to subscriber phones. (Note that transfer options do not apply when an outside caller or another subscriber dials a subscriber extension directly.)

These settings also specify how Cisco Unity handles a transfer: Cisco Unity can either release the call to the phone system, or it can supervise the transfer. When Cisco Unity is set to supervise transfers, it can provide additional call control with call holding and call screening for indirect calls:

•With call holding, when the phone is busy, Cisco Unity can ask callers to hold. Each caller on hold uses a Cisco Unity port and a phone system port, so the total number of callers that can be holding in the queue at one time is limited by the number of available ports.

If call holding is not selected, callers are sent to whichever subscriber or handler greeting is enabled—the busy, standard, closed, or alternate greeting.

•With call screening, Cisco Unity can ask for the name of the caller before connecting to a subscriber. The subscriber can then hear who is calling and, when a phone is shared by more than one subscriber, who the call is for. The subscriber can then accept or refuse the call.

If the call is accepted, it is transferred to the subscriber phone. If the call is refused, Cisco Unity plays the applicable subscriber greeting.

Tip See your phone system documentation for information on transfer, screening, and holding options for direct calls to subscriber extensions. Subscriber desk phones may also offer similar features.

Both primary and alternate extensions use the same transfer settings.

Subscribers have six transfer rules that you can customize. See the following sections:

Standard, Alternate, and Closed Transfer Rules

The standard, closed, and alternate transfer rules can be managed through the Cisco Unity Administrator. Subscribers can also manage some of the settings for these rules from the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (PCA), and can enable or disable a rule and change the transfer number for the rule by phone from the Setup Options menu. The standard, closed, and alternate rules are applied in the circumstances described in the following table.

Standard

Applies during the work hours that are specified for the active schedule, or in other situations when no other transfer rule is enabled. The standard transfer rule cannot be disabled.

Alternate

When enabled, overrides the standard and closed transfer rules and is in effect at all times. In the default configuration, the alternate rule is enabled in the {Default Subscriber} template.

Closed

When enabled, plays during the closed (nonbusiness) hours that are defined for the active schedule. Because the closed transfer rule overrides the standard transfer rule, when it is enabled it limits the standard rule to the open hours that are defined for the active schedule.

Follow-Me Transfer Rules

As with the Standard, Closed, and Alternate call transfer rules, the Follow-Me rules control how Cisco Unity handles incoming indirect calls. The Follow-Me rules support the same attributes as the Standard, Closed, and Alternate call transfer rules, and can be managed in the same ways, but they can also be managed from the Main Menu by using a special Follow-Me conversation for each rule. Subscribers can access this conversation from the Main Menu by using either a voice command, if your Cisco Unity system supports voice recognition, or by using keys assigned in a custom keypad map conversation.

The Follow-Me Mobile and Follow-Me Home rules are intended to transfer to mobile and home phone numbers, respectively. While the rules do not have to be used for those numbers, they are numbers at which subscribers frequently might want to be reached and which are not likely to change often. The first time either the Follow-Me Mobile or Follow-Me Home rule is invoked by the subscriber by using the Follow-Me rule conversation, the subscriber is asked to enter a phone number. The number is validated against the current transfer restriction table for Cisco Unity; if no conflict is found, the subscriber is asked either to confirm the number entered or to enter a new number. As with the existing contact rules, once a number is specified for either rule, that number will be used each time the rule is enabled, unless the subscriber chooses to change it.

When a subscriber logs on to Cisco Unity by phone and activates the Follow-Me Here rule from the Follow-Me rule conversation, Cisco Unity obtains the calling party ID (CPID) provided for the call and makes that number the transfer number for the rule. Because CPID is not always provided or can be masked by a phone system, the subscriber must confirm the intended transfer number or enter the desired number each time he or she attempts to activate the Follow-Me Here rule.

When a Follow-Me rule is activated, it remains active until disabled. Disabling a Follow-Me rule can be done either by explicitly disabling the rule or by enabling a different Follow-Me rule.

When the Spoken Commands feature is enabled on the server, subscribers who have access to voice-recognition features and have the Press-or-Say input style enabled can activate a Follow-Me rule from the Main menu by saying the name of the rule (for example, "Follow-Me Mobile"). To disable the active Follow-Me rule, subscribers say, "Disable Follow-Me." It is not necessary to specify the name of the rule to disable, because only one Follow-Me rule can be active at a time. For Help, subscribers say, "Follow-Me Help."

For subscribers who use one of the three Custom Keypad Mapping conversations, you can assign keys to the Follow-Me rules on the Main Menu tab in the Custom Keypad Mapping tool. You can assign a different key to enable each of the three Follow-Me rules, and a single key to disable the active Follow-Me rule. Assigning a key does not remove the use of voice commands for enabling and disabling Follow-Me rules.

Note the following considerations when allowing subscribers to use the Follow-Me rule conversations:

•When entering a transfer number, the subscriber must enter all digits necessary to complete the transfer. (For example, a 9 is often used to first obtain dial tone on the PSTN.)

•When entering a transfer number, the subscriber can enter a 1-second pause by pressing #. (For example, if the subscriber enters an outside number and the phone system requires a 9 to reach an outside line followed by a pause to wait for secondary dial tone, the user would enter 9# followed by the outside number.)

•If a trunk access code or other code is necessary to complete the transfer and is explicitly entered by a subscriber, Cisco Unity will automatically insert a 1-second pause between the code and the final 7- or 10-digit phone number.

•All transfer numbers are checked against the transfer restriction table for the subscriber. If a number violates the restriction table, Cisco Unity notifies the subscriber and asks the subscriber to enter a new number.

•Only a single Follow-Me rule can be enabled at a time.

•The Follow-Me Here rule uses the CPID as the transfer number only when activated through a spoken command or an assigned key at the Main Menu. If subscribers enable the Follow-Me Here rule through the Setup Options Transfer Settings menu, they must specify the number to transfer to, and confirm that Cisco Unity should transfer to the number rather than to voicemail.

•The Follow-Me rules take precedence over the Alternate, Closed and Standard transfer rules. For example, if the Follow-Me Mobile, the Alternate, and the Standard transfer rules are all enabled, the Follow-Me Mobile rule will be the active transfer rule.

•You can configure Cisco Unity to notify subscribers if a Follow-Me rule is active when they access their voice mailbox, by checking the Follow-Me Rule Notification check box on the applicable Conversation page for a subscriber or subscriber template in the Cisco Unity Administrator.

Specifying Subscriber Greetings Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x

Each subscriber account can have up to five greetings. The greeting settings specify which greetings are enabled, how long they are enabled, the greeting source, and the actions that Cisco Unity takes during and after each greeting. When a greeting is enabled, Cisco Unity will play the greeting in the applicable situation until the specified date and time arrives, and then the greeting is automatically disabled. A greeting can also be enabled to play indefinitely, which is useful for busy or closed greetings, or when an alternate greeting is used by a subscriber during a leave of absence.

Cisco Unity plays the greetings that you enable, as described in the following table. Note that some greetings override other greetings when they are enabled.

Standard

Plays at all times unless overridden by another greeting. You cannot disable the standard greeting.

Closed

Plays during the closed (nonbusiness) hours defined for the active schedule. A closed greeting overrides the standard greeting, and thus limits the standard greeting to the open hours defined for the active schedule.

Internal

Plays to internal callers only. It can provide information that only coworkers need to know. (For example, "I will be in the lab all afternoon.") An internal greeting overrides the standard and closed greetings.

Not all phone system integrations provide the support necessary for an internal greeting.

Busy

Plays when the extension is busy. (For example, "All of our operators are with other customers.") A busy greeting overrides the standard, closed, and internal greetings.

Not all phone system integrations provide the support necessary for a busy greeting.

Alternate

Can be used for a variety of special situations, such as vacations, leave of absence, or a holiday. (For example, "I will be out of the office until....") An alternate greeting overrides all other greetings.

You can customize how Cisco Unity behaves when a subscriber enables the alternate greeting. You can specify that Cisco Unity:

•Plays a prompt to remind subscribers that the alternate greeting is enabled when they log on to Cisco Unity by phone.

•Transfers callers directly to the alternate greeting without ringing the subscriber phone.

•Prevents callers from skipping the greeting.

•Prevents callers from leaving messages.

•Sends a notice to subscribers after they send, reply to, or forward messages to other subscribers who have their alternate greeting enabled.

Subscribers can enable as many greetings as they want; they can (re)record and manage all of their greetings by phone, or by using the Cisco Unity Assistant. Based on the options you select in the Cisco Unity Administrator, the Cisco Unity Assistant presents information to subscribers that explains how Cisco Unity handles their calls when their alternate greeting is enabled.

Specifying Subscriber Caller Input Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x

Caller input settings define actions that Cisco Unity takes in response to touchtone keys pressed by callers. For each subscriber greeting that allows caller input, you can use caller input settings to allow callers to skip the subscriber greeting, to record a message, to exit the greeting, or perhaps to transfer to a call handler, directory handler, or interview handler of your choice. (For Cisco Unity to recognize caller input during a subscriber greeting, the Allow Caller Input check box must be checked on each applicable Greetings page.)

Subscribers cannot enable caller input for a greeting, nor can they specify what Cisco Unity does when callers press specific keys; however, the greeting that mentions the key presses that are available to callers is recorded either by the subscriber or the administrator. (For example, "I am unable to take your call right now. To speak to my assistant, press 3. To leave a message, press 4. To speak to a sales representative, press 5.")

Step 2 Confirm that the Use MWI for Message Notification check box is checked.

Step 3 Click the Add button located beneath the MWI Extensions table to add a row to the table. By default, the first row in the table contains an "X" to indicate the primary extension assigned to a subscriber. If you want one more extension and do not need to activate the MWI on the primary extension, you can also modify the first row.

Step 4 In the Extension field of the table, enter the applicable extension. MWIs are automatically enabled for all rows in the table. When entering characters in the MWI Extensions table, consider the following:

Note When Cisco Unity is integrated with the phone system using SIP, the handling of a comma in the dialstring to add a pause is controlled by the SIP phone system or gateway, and in some cases the comma is ignored. You may be able to work around the problem by configuring the phone system or gateway to add a pause where necessary.

Step 5 In the Switch field, click the phone system that handles the extension.

Step 6 If you want Cisco Unity to send a real-time count of new and saved messages and new and saved urgent messages, check the Send Counts check box. Otherwise, uncheck the Send Counts check box.

Note The message count feature requires an SCCP integration with Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.0 or later, or a SIP trunk integration with Cisco Unified CM 7.1 or later. Subscribers must have a Cisco IP phone that is capable of displaying the message count information.

Step 8 In the Open dialog box, browse to the CommServer/IntLib directory, and double-click the name of the Switch.ini file that you noted in Step 4.

Step 9 Locate the Configuration section of the file. If the Configuration section does not exist, at the end of the file, enter the following line:

[Configuration]

Step 10 In the Configuration section, locate the MinimumMWIRequestInterval parameter. If the line does not exist, enter the following line:

MinimumMWIRequestInterval=

Step 11 At the end of the line, enter the number of milliseconds that Cisco Unity will pause before MWI requests. For example, if you want Cisco Unity to pause 1500 milliseconds, the line would appear as follows:

MinimumMWIRequestInterval=1500

Step 12 Save the file and exit Notepad.

Step 13 For the settings to take effect, restart the Cisco Unity server.

Specifying Subscriber Alternate Extension Settings in Cisco Unity 8.x

In addition to the primary extension that you specify for subscribers, you can assign subscribers up to nine alternate extensions. (The primary extension is the one that you assign to each subscriber when you create his or her subscriber account; it is listed on the Subscribers > Subscribers > Profile page.)

Reasons to Use Alternate Extensions

There are several reasons that you may want to specify alternate extensions for subscribers. For example, if you have more than one Cisco Unity server that accesses a single, corporate-wide directory, you may want to use alternate extensions to simplify addressing messages to subscribers at the different locations. With alternate extensions, the number that a subscriber uses when addressing a message to someone at another location can be the same number that the subscriber dials when calling. You may also want to use alternate extensions to:

•Handle multiple line appearances on subscriber phones.

•Offer easy message access on direct calls from a cell phone, home phone, or phone at an alternate work site (assuming that the phone number is passed along to Cisco Unity from these other phone systems). In addition, when such phones are used as alternate extensions, and are set to forward to Cisco Unity, callers can listen to the subscriber greeting, and leave messages for the subscriber just as they would when dialing the primary extension for the subscriber.

Tip To reduce the number of requests from subscribers who want alternate extensions set up for multiple cell phones, home phones, and other phones, verify that subscribers have class of service (COS) rights to specify their own set of alternate extensions. (By default, subscribers are allowed to define alternate extensions.) With proper COS rights, a subscriber can specify up to five alternate extensions in the Cisco Unity Assistant—in addition to the nine that you can specify on the Subscribers > Alternate Extensions page in the Cisco Unity Administrator.

•Enable URL-based extensions in Cisco Unity for an integration with a SIP phone system.

How Alternate Extensions Work

Before you set up alternate extensions, review the following list for information on how alternate extensions work:

•Alternate extensions cannot exceed 30 characters in length. By default, each administrator-defined alternate extension must be at least 3 characters in length, while subscriber-defined alternate extensions must be at least 10 characters.

You can use the Advanced Settings tool in Tools Depot to specify a minimum extension length for the extensions entered in the Cisco Unity Administrator and the Cisco Unity Assistant. See the Advanced Settings Tool Help for details on using the settings. Respectively, the settings are Administration—Set the Minimum Length for Locations, and Administration—Set the Minimum Length for Subscriber-Defined Alternate Extensions.

•When subscribers whose class of service allows them to add their own alternate extensions enter a phone number in the Alternate Devices section in the Cisco Unity Assistant web tool, Cisco Unity checks the number against the {Default Alt Ext} restriction table. In releases prior to Cisco Unity release 7.x, Cisco Unity checked the length of the number against a registry key that defined the minimum length of subscriber-defined extensions.

•You can control whether subscribers can use the Cisco Unity Assistant to view the alternate extensions that you specify in the Cisco Unity Administrator. See the Subscribers > Class of Service > Profile page. The Subscriber-Defined Alternate Extension table displays the alternate extensions that the subscriber adds.

•Neither the Cisco Unity Administrator nor the Cisco Unity Assistant will accept an extension that is already assigned to another subscriber (either as a primary or alternate extension), or to a public distribution list, call handler, directory handler, or interview handler. Cisco Unity verifies that each alternate extension is unique—up to the dialing domain level, if applicable—before allowing either an administrator or a subscriber to create it.

•All alternate extensions use the same transfer settings as the primary extension.

•In many cases, Cisco Unity can activate a message waiting indicator (MWI) for an alternate extension. However, depending on the phones and phone systems involved, some additional phone system programming may be required to set this up.

Alternate Extension Learning

When a subscriber calls and logs on to Cisco Unity from a phone number that is not already configured as a primary or alternate extension for any subscriber, Cisco Unity can add the number to the subscriber calling party ID (CPID) history. If the subscriber calls and logs on from that phone a sufficient number of times within a given time frame, on a subsequent logon from the same number the system asks the subscriber if he or she wants to be recognized when calling from that number in the future. If the subscriber chooses to have the number recognized, the number is added as an alternate extension for the subscriber. If the subscriber chooses not to have the number recognized, Cisco Unity will no longer keep a history of calls from that number, and will not ask the subscriber about the number again in the future.

This feature is controlled by class of service and is enabled by default.

Administrators can configure how many times subscribers must call and log on from a number and the time frame in which they must do so before the system prompts a subscriber with the option to add the number as an alternate extension. The default is 5 times over 30 days.

Note also that Cisco Unity checks the CPID against the {Default Alt Ext} restriction table. If the number is not allowed by this restriction table, Cisco Unity will not consider it for alternate extension learning. Administrators can configure this restriction table to constrain learned alternate extensions to a certain length or to restrict certain numbers or patterns, for example to prevent subscribers from being offered a conference room or lobby phone as an alternate extension. By default, this restriction table allows any number that is between 10 and 30 digits long.

Alternate extension learning is enabled by default, and can cause unexpected behavior if subscribers add alternate extensions for numbers that are used by the system or by multiple subscribers, or in situations where one extension frequently transfers subscribers to Cisco Unity. We strongly recommend that you configure the {Default Alt Ext} table to disallow the extensions of frequently used phones that you do not want to be inadvertently added as subscriber alternate extensions (for example, receptionist, lobby, or conference room phones).

Note You can run the Cisco Unity Bulk Import wizard when you want to add alternate extensions for multiple subscribers at once. When you do, the Cisco Unity Bulk Import wizard appends the new alternate extensions to the existing table of alternate extensions, beginning with the first blank row.

Changing the Configuration of Alternate Extension Learning

Use the following task list for changing the configuration of alternate extension learning.

Task List for Changing the Configuration of Alternate Extension Learning

To Configure the Number of Times and Time Frame That a Subscriber Logs on from a Number for Alternate Extension Learning

Step 1 In the Cisco Unity Administrator, go to the System > Configuration > Settings page.

Step 2 Under Alternate Extension Setup Based on CPID, in the Times field, enter the number of times that a subscriber will log on to Cisco Unity from the same phone that is not the primary extension before Cisco Unity offers the number as an alternate extension.

Step 3 In the Days field, enter the number of days that Cisco Unity will count the use of a phone by the same subscriber before offering the number as an alternate extension.

If the subscriber logs on to Cisco Unity from the same phone for the number of times required by Step 2 within the number of days required by Step 3, Cisco Unity will offer the number as an alternate extension to the subscriber. The default is 5 times over 30 days.

By default, search scopes are defined for the system by the addressing option settings for the primary location that is configured for the Cisco Unity server. The option settings allow you to restrict message addressing to the global directory (all subscribers), to all subscribers in a dialing domain, or to all subscribers on the local Cisco Unity server.

When you associate subscribers with directory handlers, you can have Cisco Unity restrict their message addressing search scopes to the search option that is selected for the directory handler. The search option specified can be a dialing domain, the local Cisco Unity server, a location, a class of service or a public distribution list.

This can be useful for setting up a multi-tenant system where there is a need to prevent subscribers in one group from sending messages to subscribers in another group.

For example, if your organization needs to partition subscriber accounts into two groups such that subscribers in each group cannot address messages to subscribers in the other group, do the following tasks in order:

1. Create a separate class of service for each group.

2. Create a separate directory handler for each group for which the Search In options are set to a different one of the two classes of service that you created in task 1.

3. Create separate subscriber templates, and associate each template with a different one of the two directory handlers that you created in task 2.

4. Use the two templates to create the two groups of subscribers.

Note Changes to settings in a template do not affect any existing subscriber accounts that were based on that template. After you create subscribers, you cannot use a template to modify them.

Alternatively, if the subscriber accounts already exist and are members of separate public distribution lists, you can associate a different directory handler with each distribution list, then use the Bulk Edit utility to associate each group of subscribers with the applicable directory handler.

Use the following procedure to associate subscribers with directory handlers.

To Associate a Subscriber or a Subscriber Template with a Directory Handler

•To do so for a group of existing subscribers at once by using the Bulk Edit utility, see the Bulk Edit utility Help. The Bulk Edit utility is available in the Tools Depot. (To access Tools Depot, double-click the Cisco Unity Tools Depot icon on the Cisco Unity server desktop.)